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(No Model.) V v G. B. ALLEN. SPINNING TOP.

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INTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE BION ALLEN, OF PAWVTUOKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOEDWIN R. BULLOCK, OF SAME PLACE.

SPINNING-TOP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 575,278, dated January12, 1897. Application filed March 4, 1896. Serial No. 581,757. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE Bron ALLEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pawtucket, in the county of Providence and State of RhodeIsland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSpinning-Tops; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention is a bounding top, an improvement in that class of topsspun by winding a cord from the spurnpward and throwing to the ground.

My improvement consists in making a top that can be bounded into the airas an additional attractive feature. I accomplish this by fitting into acentral longitudinal opening in the body of the top a movable spur and aspring or elastic cushion.

The top I have made and will now describe is as follows, reference beinghad to the accompanyin g drawings, in which similar letters refer tosimilar parts throughout the several views: p

Figure 1 shows the empty body of a top with a ledge or ridge at thebottom to hold the spinning-cord in place. Fig. 2 shows a complete top.Fig. 3 is a spur enlarged and tapered at its upper end for the purposehereinafter described. Fig. 4 shows a top fitted with a spur having ataper only on the flange at its upper extremity. Fig. 5 shows this spurindependently.

a is the top-body in Figs. 1 and In Fig. 2 b is apin passing through theplug 0 to hold it in place. dis a spring (or elastic cushion) fittedinto the opening in the topbody. 6 is the spur, whose upper extremity isenlarged and tapered. g is the tapering connection between the two sizesof the opening in the top-body.

a is the top-body in Fig. 4. e is the spur in Fig. 4, flanged at itsupper end and corrugated near the point to hold the spinning-cord.

By experiment I have found that the movement of a parallel spur, howeverwell fitted, will soon enlarge its opening in the top-body and cause thetop to wabble and so interrupt its spinning. To prevent this, I enlargethe upper extremity of the spur and make the opening in the top conformto the shape of the spur, as shown at gand at g. 9 shows a spur with along bevel. g shows a spur with a beveled flange at its upper end. In gthe bevel will center the spur and the under side of the flange willbear against the inner side of the opening and prevent wabbling. I placein the opening above the spur a spring or elastic cushion sufficientlycompressed to hold the enlarged upper end of the spur firmly against thetop-body, as shown at g and at g. This effectually prevents any wabblingof the top due to a loosely-fittin g spur, and the shape of the upperend of the spur meetingacorresponding shape in the opening causes thepoint of the spur to always come down in the center after anycompression of the spring or elastic cushion.

In the top which I have described the spring will be compressed when thetop is spun, the spur being forced upward by striking the ground. Therelaxation of the spring forces the spur back into its originalposition, thus causing the top to bound into the air. It will be seen bythis that the spring has two offices, one to cause the top to bound andthe other to hold the spur rigidly in place.

In a peg-top, to which class this top belongs, the string is woundupwardly from a roughening or ridge on the spur; but unless theconnection between the spur and the body of the top be very close thecord will not wind uniformly up the side of the top, but the firstcourse 011 the body of the top will so project over the last course onthe spur as to cause the cord to tangle in spinning.

I prefer to make my tops with a close connection between the body-pieceand the spur, so as to admit of winding the cord from the spur upward.

Again, I prefer to make the spurs used in my tops as shown in Fig. 3;but I also use the spur shown in Fig. 5 when I desire to do so.

That I claim is- In a bounding top, in combination a bodypiece having acentral longitudinal opening tapered to a smaller size near its lowerend, a spring or elastic cushion, a spur tapered at its upper extremityto correspond with the taper of the opening, and a plug pinned orotherwise secured in the upper extremity of said longitudinal opening,substantially as shown and described and for the purpose specified.

In testimonywhereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE BION ALLEN.

Witnesses:

DAVID F. MORTON, H. NELsoN FRENCH.

